Prime-mover dynamo plants – Tide and wave motors
Patent
1998-10-29
2000-10-31
Ponomarenko, Nick
Prime-mover dynamo plants
Tide and wave motors
60501, F03B 1312
Patent
active
061407127
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to a wave energy converter using a working piston reciprocal in an acceleration tube, and more particularly to a wave energy converter having using paired resiliently extendable hose pumps.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Wave energy converters of this kind, which are sometimes referred to as point absorbers or heaving-buoy wave energy converters, are known from, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,277,690. The operation of this particular converter is based on relative motion between, on the one hand, a buoyant body and a so-called acceleration tube attached to and depending from the buoyant body, and, on the other hand, a reciprocable working piston in the acceleration tube; this relative motion is caused by waves of the sea in which the converter operates.
In a wave energy converter of this kind, the working piston and other masses coupled to it form an inertial system which has no positive coupling to the buoyant body and the acceleration tube in the vertical direction, that is, in the direction of the axis of the acceleration tube.
Naturally, the working piston itself and the associated piston rod have a certain mass, but the mass which moves with the piston is determined primarily by the mass of a column of water which is coupled to the piston to move together with it.
In the wave energy converter known from U.S. Pat. No. 4,277,690 an energy-absorbing device for recovering the wave energy includes a double-acting hydraulic piston pump positioned in the buoyant body and connected to the working piston in the acceleration tube through a piston rod. The piston rod is in some respects a critical component.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
A primary object of the invention is to provide a wave energy converter in which a piston rod is not required to transmit the force required to drive the pump unit.
As will be described in greater detail below, this object is achieved by using a different type of pump unit, namely a pair of so-called hose pumps which are resiliently extendable and connected between, on the one hand, opposite sides of the operating piston and, on the other hand, the buoyant body and/or the acceleration tube.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The invention will be described in greater detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.
FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic perspective view of a wave energy converter of the kind with which the invention is concerned;
FIG. 2 is a vertical sectional view of the wave energy converter shown in FIG. 1; and
FIG. 3 is a vertical sectional view of a modification of the wave energy converter shown in FIG. 2.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
The wave energy converter 10A shown in FIG. 1 embodies the principles of construction and operation described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,277,690 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,773,221. It accordingly comprises a buoyant unit or body 11 provided with attachment lugs 12 for mooring lines 13, and a so-called acceleration tube 14 which depends from the buoyant body 11 and is attached to it by circumferentially spaced longitudinally extending radial webs 15 leaving large openings between them.
As in the wave energy converters of the above-mentioned patents, the acceleration tube 14 is open at both ends so that water can flow freely into and out of it.
As is illustrated in greater detail in FIG. 2 and described below, the buoyant body 11 and the acceleration tube 14 accommodate apparatus for converting wave-generated vertical oscillations of the buoyant body 11 and the acceleration tube 14 to electrical energy.
In operation of the wave energy converter 10A the entire acceleration tube 14 and the lower portion of the buoyant body 11 are immersed in water. The mooring lines 13 keep the wave energy converter 10A in a selected offshore position horizontally but permit it to oscillate vertically under the influence of water waves.
Referring to FIG. 2, a section of the acceleration tube 14 between the upper and lower ends thereof defines a working cylinder 16 in which a double-acting working piston
REFERENCES:
patent: 1864499 (1932-06-01), Grigsby
patent: 3487228 (1969-12-01), Kriegel
patent: 4076467 (1978-02-01), Persson
patent: 4203294 (1980-05-01), Budal et al.
patent: 4208878 (1980-06-01), Rainey
patent: 4277690 (1981-07-01), Noren
patent: 4531063 (1985-07-01), Vielmo et al.
patent: 4631921 (1986-12-01), Linderfelt
patent: 4773221 (1988-09-01), Noren
Claesson Lennart
Forsberg Jan
Fredriksson Gunnar
Sjostrom Bengt-Olov
IPS Interproject Service AB
Ponomarenko Nick
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